In 2026, an accompanying consignment note for goods (ACNT) must be issued for goods and transactions for which this obligation is established by the applicable rules for issuing accompanying consignment notes for goods. Articles 317, 666, 833 and 837 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan regulate other matters and do not establish the procedure for preparing, confirming or correcting an ACNT.
When an ACNT must be issued
Before shipment, the accountant must determine whether the goods and the relevant transaction fall within the scope of the current list of goods subject to the ACNT requirement. This determination cannot be based solely on the product name, the organisation’s customary practice or a counterparty’s request: the grounds for issuing the document must be checked against the rules and list in effect on the transaction date.
The check must take into account not only the type of goods but also the nature of their movement. The same product name does not in itself mean that the document must be issued in the same way in every case. The decision is made with reference to the specific transaction, its parties, the place of dispatch and the place of delivery of the goods.
An ACNT accompanies the movement of goods and contains information linking the document to a specific supply. The accountant must verify the details of the supplier and recipient, the parties’ identification numbers, the dispatch and delivery addresses, and the information about the goods. The required details are determined according to the current ACNT form.
Before issuing the document, it is advisable to check:
whether the goods fall within the categories for which an ACNT is required;
whether the transaction meets the conditions for applying the ACNT requirements;
who acts as the supplier and recipient under the specific supply;
whether the parties’ IINs or BINs and names match the accounting records;
whether the actual places of dispatch and delivery have been identified correctly;
whether the information about the goods corresponds to the source documents and contractual documents;
whether the prepared document reflects the actual movement of the goods.
This preliminary check reduces the risk of discrepancies between the ACNT, source documents and actual supply. The applicability of the ACNT requirements should be determined before the goods are dispatched, since subsequently correcting the information does not replace proper documentation of the transaction at the initial stage.
If a single supply includes different goods, each item must be assessed separately. The inclusion in a consignment of goods for which an ACNT is issued does not provide grounds for automatically applying the same procedure to the remaining items without checking them against the applicable conditions.
How to issue an ACNT in Kazakhstan
The standard workflow involves issuing the ACNT in the Electronic Invoices Information System. The accountant should prepare information about the supplier, recipient, place of dispatch and place of delivery, as well as the details of the goods and business transaction required by the current form of the document.
The specific fields must be completed using the actual supply details. Automatically copying a previous ACNT may be used only as a technical method: every copied detail must be checked again. This is particularly important if the counterparty, warehouse, delivery address, quantity or other shipment information has changed.
The practical procedure may be organised as follows:
Determine whether the ACNT requirements apply to the selected goods and specific transaction.
Prepare the source, contractual and accounting data relating to the shipment.
Verify the supplier’s and recipient’s details, including their IINs or BINs and names.
Establish the actual places of dispatch and delivery of the goods.
Compare the information about the goods with the documents for the specific supply.
Complete the fields required by the form in the Electronic Invoices IS.
Perform an internal review of the document before completing its issuance.
Retain information linking the ACNT to the shipment and source documents.
Particular attention should be paid to addresses. A transaction party’s registered address must not be transferred automatically to the field for the actual place of dispatch or delivery when the goods are moved from another warehouse or delivered to another facility. The document must contain information corresponding to the specific movement of the goods and the purpose of the relevant field in the form.
The counterparty’s name and identifier must relate to the same party to the supply. If the data is imported from an accounting system, the accountant must prevent a situation in which the IIN or BIN relates to one person while the name or address relates to another.
The quantity, units of measurement and other characteristics of the goods must be checked against the shipment documents. If the agreement contains a generalised name while the source document contains a more detailed one, the information for the ACNT must be selected with due regard to the requirements of its form and the actual product nomenclature.
The path for creating the document in the accounting software depends on the configuration used and the installed release. The names of sections and commands and the sequence of actions may differ. Regardless of the interface, the final information in the ACNT must correspond to the current form and the actual transaction.
After completing the fields, it is advisable to perform a separate control check rather than relying solely on the software’s notification that there are no technical errors. Automated validation usually identifies blank or formally incorrect fields, but it does not always determine whether the selected counterparty, address or goods relate to the actual supply.
What to do in the event of a technical error in the Electronic Invoices IS
An unavailable workstation, lack of internet access within the organisation, an accounting software error and a technical error in the Electronic Invoices IS itself are different situations. They must not all be classified generally as a system failure. Before selecting the subsequent procedure, the accountant must establish the nature of the problem and record information linking it to the specific shipment.
The paper-based procedure cannot be used solely on the basis of an internal report from an employee stating that the system cannot be opened. Whether an ACNT may be issued outside the ordinary electronic procedure must be determined according to the current version of the rules and official information on the operation of the Electronic Invoices IS.
If the applicable procedure permits a paper ACNT to be prepared in the particular situation, the document must be completed using the actual supply details. The details of the paper document must be checked against the source documents before the goods are transferred to prevent discrepancies in information about the parties, addresses and goods.
For the purpose of controlling paper documents, organisations should maintain separate records. These records may link the ACNT to the shipment date, supplier, recipient, source documents and circumstances in which electronic issuance was unavailable. Such records help prevent the document from being lost and ensure that the subsequent actions required under the applicable procedure are completed in the Electronic Invoices IS in a timely manner.
Once access has been restored, the accountant must check the status of every ACNT that was not issued under the ordinary electronic procedure. The work cannot be regarded as complete merely because the paper copy has been filed in the archive. The subsequent actions and the deadline for completing them must be determined according to the current version of the rules applicable to the circumstances in which the document was issued.
For internal control purposes, it is convenient to record separately:
the date and time when the problem arose;
the transaction and shipment affected by it;
information about the supplier and recipient;
the details of the source documents;
the date on which the ability to work was restored;
the actions performed with the document after access was restored;
the final status of the ACNT in the Electronic Invoices IS.
Such record-keeping is an organisational measure and does not replace the prescribed procedure. It enables the accountant to reconstruct the sequence of events and verify that every affected supply was processed after the technical problem had been resolved.
Review after issuance
After issuing the ACNT, the accountant should perform checks in four main areas: the parties to the transaction, addresses, goods and the link to the source documents. If the document was prepared outside the ordinary electronic procedure, its subsequent processing in the Electronic Invoices IS must also be checked.
A working checklist may include the following questions:
whether the IINs or BINs of both parties have been specified correctly;
whether the names correspond to the supplier’s and recipient’s identifiers;
whether the selected parties relate specifically to this supply;
whether the actual places of dispatch and delivery have been specified;
whether the information about the goods matches the shipment documents;
whether the ACNT relates to the same supply as the source documents;
whether accidental copying of data from another document has been ruled out;
whether the link between the paper and electronic documents has been retained if the paper-based procedure was used;
whether the document’s final status in the Electronic Invoices IS has been checked.
The check should be performed using the details of the specific supply rather than solely by visually comparing the document with the previous ACNT. Documents for the same counterparty may differ in terms of the warehouse, delivery address, product nomenclature and other material details.
If a discrepancy is identified after issuance, the subsequent actions must be determined according to the current version of the rules and the document’s current status in the Electronic Invoices IS. The correction method cannot be selected solely based on the nature of the typographical error: it must first be established which actions are permitted for the relevant ACNT status.
Before making a correction, the link to the original transaction must be retained, and it must be checked whether the selected action will change information already used by the other party. Once the correction has been completed, the document must again be compared with the source data and its status in the system must be checked.
Questions and answers
What does ACNT mean? — It means an accompanying consignment note for goods. The need to issue it is determined with reference to the specific goods and transaction under the applicable rules and list.
Is the product name sufficient to determine whether an ACNT must be issued? — No. The goods and the nature of the specific transaction must be checked against the conditions of the applicable procedure, and the actual movement of the products must also be taken into account.
How should an ACNT be issued if the Electronic Invoices IS is unavailable? — The nature of the unavailability must first be established, and the official procedure applicable to the situation must be checked. An organisation’s internal technical problem does not in itself confirm a failure of the Electronic Invoices IS.
Can the details from a previous ACNT be transferred automatically? — Copying may be used as a technical method, but every detail must be checked against the new supply. Particular attention must be paid to the parties, addresses, information about the goods and source documents.
What should be checked after issuing an ACNT? — The parties’ identifiers and names, the actual places of dispatch and delivery, information about the goods, the link to the source documents and the document’s final status in the Electronic Invoices IS.
What should be done if an error is identified? — The procedure must be selected with due regard to the type of discrepancy and the ACNT’s status in the Electronic Invoices IS. After the correction, the document must again be checked against the actual supply and source documents.
Which articles of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan regulate the described expenses and payments but not the procedure for issuing an ACNT? — Article 317 concerns certain expenses of subsoil users, Article 666 concerns state duty rates for visa-related and associated actions, Article 833 concerns the transitional procedure for reviewing applications for the refund of excess VAT, and Article 837 concerns the preservation of the terms of investment contracts and agreements. These provisions do not establish the rules for preparing an ACNT.